History was written when Social Development and Nestle South Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Friday, 26 February 2010. This public private partnership will pave way for the improvement of the lives of the disadvantaged children who are in the province’s Early Childhood Development centres (ECDs).
The signing of this document was the first of its kind, according to Mrs Nozuko Yokwana, the Department’s Chief Operations Officer. “We are the only government department that has signed a legal binding document that has terms of references with the private sector we used to work on a gentlemen’s agreement,” Yokwana said.
Ms Pule Kekana and Ms Nelisa Petse were the delegation sent by Nestle to sign the agreement. “This is part of our social responsibility. We sat down and asked ourselves, where can we make a difference in the lives of our children? We then realised that joining hands with the Department of Social Development will help us to play our role in the development of our children,” Kekana said.
The department funds the majority of the ECDs in the province, but due to budget constraints, there are those ECDs that do not access the funding. This new partnership with Nestle will help to accommodate even those ECDs that do not access the Department’s funding.
This MoU has set out three key focus areas:
* To beautify the ECDs: “Beautify” refers to fencing, painting, equipping, etc
* Assist in training of ECD practitioners: Practitioners will be trained on how to cook nutritious meals for children
* To develop food security in the form of vegetable gardens
The department’s responsibility will be to identify those ECDs that need the above mentioned services, before Nestle can intervene.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
3 March 2010
Source: Department of Social Development, Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.socdev.ecprov.gov.za/)
